"Wot"ll you give me if I"m first?" said Ginger, displaying again the base commercialism of his age.
William considered.
"I"ll give you first drink out of a bottle of ginger-ale wot I"m goin"
to get with my next money. It"ll be three weeks off "cause they"re takin" the next two weeks to pay for an ole window wot my ball slipped into by mistake."
He spoke with the bitterness that always characterised his statements of the injustice of the grown-up world.
"All right," said Ginger.
"I won"t forget about the drink of ginger-ale."
"No, you won"t," said Ginger simply. "I"ll remind you all right. Well, let"s set off."
""Course," said William, "it would be _nicer_ with armour an" horses an" trumpets, but I "spect folks ud think anyone a bit soft wot went about in the streets in armour now, "cause these times is different.
She said so. Anyway she said we could still be knights an" help people, di"n"t she? Anyway, I"ll get my bugle. That"ll be _something_."
William"s bugle had just returned to public life after one of its periodic terms of retirement into his father"s keeping.
William took his bugle proudly in one hand and his pistol (the glorious result of a dip in the bran tub at a school party) in the other, and, sternly denying themselves the pleasures of afternoon school, off the two set upon the road of romance and adventure.
"I"ll carry the bugle," said Ginger, ""cause I"m squire."
William was loth to give up his treasure.
"Well, I"ll carry it now," he said, "but when I begin" fightin" folks, I"ll give it you to hold."
They walked along for about a mile without meeting anyone. William began to be aware of a sinking feeling in the region of his waist.
"I wonder wot they _eat_," he said at last. "I"m gettin" so"s I wouldn"t mind sumthin" to eat."
"We di"n"t ought to have set off before dinner," said the squire with after-the-event wisdom. "We ought to have waited till _after_ dinner."
"You ought to have _brought_ sumthin"," said William severely. "You"re the squire. You"re not much of a squire not to have brought sumthin"
for me to eat."
"An" me," put in Ginger. "If I"d brought any I"d have brought it for me more"n for you."
William fingered his minute pistol.
"If we meet any wild animals ..." he said darkly.
A cow gazed at them mournfully over a hedge.
"You might go an" milk that," suggested William. "Milk "ud be better"n nothing."
"_You_ go "an milk it."
"No, I"m not squire. I bet squires did the milkin". Knights wu"n"t of done the milkin"."
"I"ll remember," said Ginger bitterly, "when you"re squire, all the things wot you said a squire ought to do when I was squire."
They entered the field and gazed at the cow from a respectful distance. She turned her eyes upon them sadly.
"Go on!" said the knight to his reluctant squire.
"I"m not good at cows," objected that gentleman.
"Well, I will, then!" said William with reckless bravado, and advanced boldly upon the animal. The animal very slightly lowered its horns (perhaps in sign of greeting) and emitted a sonorous mo-o-o-o-o. Like lightning the gallant pair made for the road.
"Anyway," said William gloomily, "we"d got nothin" to put it in, so we"d only of got tossed for nothin", p"raps, if we"d gone on."
They walked on down the road till they came to a pair of iron gates and a drive that led up to a big house. William"s spirits rose. His hunger was forgotten.
"Come on!" he said. "We might find someone to rescue here. It looks like a place where there might be someone to rescue."
There was no one in the garden to question the right of entry of two small boys armed with a bugle and a toy pistol. Unchallenged they went up to the house. While the knight was wondering whether to blow his bugle at the front door or by the open window, they caught sight suddenly of a vision inside the window. It was a girl as fair and slim and beautiful as any wandering knight could desire. And she was speaking fast and pa.s.sionately.
William, ready for all contingencies, marshalled his forces.
"Follow me!" he whispered and crept on all fours nearer the window.
They could see a man now, an elderly man with white hair and a white beard.
"And how long will you keep me in this vile prison?" she was saying in a voice that trembled with anger, "base wretch that you are!"
"Crumbs!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed William.
"Ha! Ha!" sneered the man. "I have you in my power. I will keep you here a prisoner till you sign the paper which will make me master of all your wealth, and beware, girl, if you do not sign, you may answer for it with your life!"
"Golly!" murmured William.
Then he crawled away into the bushes, followed by his attendant squire.
"Well," said William, his face purple with excitement, "we"ve found someone to rescue all _right_. He"s a base wretch, wot she said, all _right_."
"Will you kill him?" said the awed squire.
"How big was he? Could you see?" said William the discreet.
"He was ever so big. Great big face he had, too, with a beard."
"Then I won"t try killin" him--not straight off. I"ll think of some plan--somethin" cunnin"."
[Ill.u.s.tration: WILLIAM AND GINGER FOLLOWED ON ALL FOURS WITH ELABORATE CAUTION.]
He sat with his chin on his hands, gazing into s.p.a.ce, till they were surprised by the opening of the front door and the appearance of a tall, thick-set, elderly man. William quivered with excitement. The man went along a path through the bushes. William and Ginger followed on all fours with elaborate caution. At every almost inaudible sound from Ginger, William turned his red, frowning face on to him with a resounding "Sh!" The path ended at a small shed with a locked door.
The man opened the door--the key stood in the lock--and entered.
Promptly William, with a snarl expressive of cunning and triumph, hurled himself at the door and turned the key in the lock.